ABA school v mainstream school with autism preschool

CaraMay

Has anyone any thoughts on a mainstream schoole with an autism unit versus an aba school?

I don't really know what I'm asking here as I know next to nothing about either but need to get up to speed pretty quickly.

All comments / observations / experiences welcome.

Moonbeam

I think this would be better suited to the Primary and Preschool forum, would you like it moved?

CaraMay

I think I would rather it remain here please as it's parents opinions I would like.

Moonbeam

no bother at all.
Let me know if you want it moved in the future.

Calhoun

My understanding is that ABA schools were more a 1:1 ratio, compared to the autism units which would be a teacher with a couple of SNA's in a 1 is to many arrangement.

Anecdotally the ABA model can do great things for kids in them and depending on where they lie on the autism spectrum i have heard of cases where kids have gone to mainstream schools ( a relative works in one). I am also told however that the success of a child allot of times depends on the parents re-enforcing the learned behavior the child is taught in school.

Something to note about the current ABA school structure i believe the department of education has taken over allot of the older units and is in the process of turning them into something like an autism unit with a teacher and more students assigned to an SNA.

I could be wrong on the last point but its something you need to be aware of as a school you look at today might not stay that way in the future, you know how it is with government they have to offer you an education but not the one you want. I would recommend you look at schools like http://www.saplings.org ect.

Hope this helps and apologies that i am not more specific, i am not a parent with a child in need of a unit but know a tiny bit about how it works.

Roesy

Hi CaraMay,
I have a bit of experience working in A.B.A, albeit a number of years ago at this stage. I worked as an A.B.A tutor in a school for a few months as well as doing some home tuition. My nephew also attended an early intervention class in a mainstream school. It had a ratio of 6 children to one teacher and two s.n.a's. He went on to dual enrol and do half his week in the autistic unit and half his week in his local primary school with an S.N.A. He eventually went fulltime in a mainstream school with special needs assistance. He's doing well. One of the children I did home tuition with during summers attended an A.B.A school for the first two years then dual enrolled in his local primary school for a year before attending fulltime. He is in 6th class now and the decision has to be made as to whether he will go to an Autistic school for secondary or a secondary school with an autistic unit.

A.B.A is very much 1:1. Learning goals are broken down into small steps and reinforcers specific to each child were used to reward behaviours that we wanted to increase. Walkers ready salted crisps were very popular if I remember correctly The behaviour to be taught was broken into very small steps and the child was given loads of opportunity to practice it during the day. Initially behaviours or skills were introduced in table top activities and then applied to real life situations. There was a lot of further learning as a tutor. I found this quite interesting. I found the method quite effective but very rigid though. In an autism preschool there will probably be a 6:1 pupil teacher ratio with 1 or 2 S.N.A's. There would still be a good bit of 1:1 work with some group work.

Both set-ups have their merits and obviously I can't give you advice from a parents perspective but I would suggest that if you can go and visit an A.B.A school and a unit within a mainstream school I would. Best of luck with your decision.

Mr. Muddle

Hi CaraMay,

It is difficult to say which is best for your child without knowing them.

Firstly is there an ABA school in your area and what is the waiting list like?

What age is your child?

In an ideal world (in my opinion) it would be brilliant to start off in a school setting that uses ABA and hopefully integrate your child into a main stream school maybe with an ASD unit. I would put your childs name down for every school now, because waiting lists can be long.

I would contact a local support group and Irish Autism Action (they will probably be able to tell you of parent groups in your area) I know the one local to me meets once a month, one month for a coffee morning other month in the evening giving most people the chance to be there at least every second month. It can be really helpful to talk to other parents to see what they did and how to broach things with the Dept of Ed (SNEO) and the HSE.

IAA education link: http://www.autismireland.ie/education/


I have a nephew with autism who is now a teenager, through him and his school I have met many other parents with children with ASD. Since he started in a special school which uses ABA many of the children have progressed into main stream schools, some children like my nephew need and will always need a much higher level of support so mainstream is not for them. This is something we could not predict when he started at the age of 3, different children progress in different ways.

There is no right or wrong answer to your question as every school seems to be different (as is every child). Some ASD units are brilliant some are not so great. One thing I do know is that you as a parent who has a child with special needs, needs to be very hands on in looking for support and pushing for appointments from the HSE etc.

Good luck CaraMay, I hope you get the support and help that you need.

CaraMay

We live in a small rural town and the nearest saplings is 40 minutes away and that's it. We have been given a place in the local preschool thankfully and he will be starting at 2 years 9 months. It's 7 minutes drive and the only one in the county so we are very lucky. It will have 6 kids max with 1 teacher and 2 sna.

This was confirmed since I put the post so I think for a variety of reasons the local school is our best bet.

Thanks for all your comments.

Finding it very hard to get a home tutor though.

emuhead

Hi

I worked in ABA some time ago and this is based on my experience of working in a school and also working as a home tutor.

If you're trying to source a home tutor Saplings should be able to make some recommendations. If the tutor is to use ABA, I would insist they are BACB certified / are a BCaBA (this ensures they have formal training in ABA) and that any programme is supervised by a Behaviour Analyst - also known as BCBA. The BCBA will have at least master's degree training in the area. You can read more about it at this link:

http://www.bacb.com/index.php?page=4


There are uncertified home tutors who do excellent work but the certification above gives a guarantee of training.

Linking in with parent support groups is invaluable - they will give you advice re navigating the educational system.

edit - just to add that the recommendations re getting certified are only if you're using ABA for a home programme - best of luck with whichever approach or combination of approaches you decide to use.

CaraMay

We luckily found amazing aba tutors and the assessment period has just finished. It could get complicated as we have been offered the above spot in the local school so it could be difficult to move him to an aba school under dept guidelines. It's all just do frustrating.